Nail driver



L. FROSTAD NAIL DRIVER Feb. 25, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 16,1961 FIGA FIG.3

FIG.|

HIS ATTORNEY.

L. FROSTAD NAIL DRIVER Feb. 25, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 16,1961 a INVENTOR'.

LARs FRosTAD,

BY .0. MMM

HIS ATTORNEY.

L. FROSTAD NAIL DRIVER Feb. 25, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 16,1961 INVENTOR LARS FROSTAD,

HIS ATTORNEY.

United States Patent O 3,121,375 NAIL DREI/'ER Lars Frosted, Syracuse,NX., assigner, by mesne assignments, to Rockwell Manufacturing Cempany,Pittsburgh, Era, a corporation of iennsylvania Filed Get. 1e,4 1961,Ser. No. 145,055 Z iaims. (Ci. Iwo) This invention relates to naildrivers of the conventional type provided with a magazine containing asupply of nails which are advanced to 'a delivery slot and drivendownwardly through the slot into a work piece by a driver blade actuatedby a blow from a hammer, or mallet. A nail device of this type isdisclosed in the copending application of Heiko T. de Man, Serial Number8,396, -led February 12, 1960, now `Patent No. 3,022,509, dated February27, 1962.

This invention has as an object a hammer actuated nailer embodying anovel arrangement permitting multiple blows in driving `a nail butpreventing the movement of a nail into the delivery slot until theprevious nail has been driven all the way home, or completely set in thework piece.

The invention consists in the novel features and in the combinations andconstructions hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanyingdrawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in allthe views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional view of the forward portion of a nailerembodying my invention.

FIGURE 2 is a View of the lower right portion of FIG- URE l, with a nailpositioned in the delivery slot ready to be dr-iven.

FGURE 3 is a view, similar to FIGURE 2, showing the nail driven to nearset position.

FIGURE 4 is a View, similar to FIGURES 2 and 3, showing the nail drivencompletely set and the next nail in the magazine displaced for movementthrough the nail passage into the delivery slot upon return upwardmovement of the nail driver.

FIGURE 5 is an isometric perspective View of the inner portion of thenose piece showing the nail passage and nail delivery slot.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the lower portion of the nail driver.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the nose piece andnail driver with the nail driven near cornpletion.

FIGURE 8 is a view taken on line 8-3, FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 9 is an isometric View of a modified form of nose piece.

FIGURE l() is a vertical sectional view of the nose piece and forwardend portion of the magazine incorporating a retaining spring for thedisplaced nail.

FIGURE 11 is a View taken on line 11A-11, FIGURE l0.

FIGURE 12 is a view taken on line 12-12, FIGURE 10.

The nailer consists generally of an elongated body containing a nailmagazine having a guideway for supporting a row of nails. The nails areadvanced along the guideway toward the front end thereof by a springactuated pusher. A nose piece is affixed to the forward end of theguideway and is formed with a nail delivery slot extending normal to thenail guideway, and the nose piece is formed with a passage to providecommunication 4between the guideway and the nail delivery slot andthrough which the nails are advanced to the slot. When the driver is inthe full up position, the lower end of the driver 3,l2i,875 PatentedFein. 25, 1964 ICC is positioned below the upper ends of the nails inthe plane of the guideway, whereby the nails cannot advance through thepassage into tie nail delivery slot. When a nail has been moved ordisplaced downwardly in the passage from the plane of the guideway, thehead of the nail is then positioned below the lower end of the driverblade when the driver blade is in the up position. This permitsadvancement of the displaced nail into the nail delivery slot, so thatupon the next downward movement of the driver blade, the nail can bedriven home. However, if the blow from the hammer, or mallet, does notdrive the nail completely home, and the blade is returned to up positionby the plunger spring, the next nail then positioned in the passage,cannot advance into the delivery slot. This arrangement avoids thenecessity of incorporating in the nailer a complicated structure, suchas pawls and the like, to prevent return upward movement of the naildriver blade until the nail has been completely set. Such full strokemechanisms conventionally used are not only costly to incorporate in thenailer, but require frequent maintenance.

The ybody of the nailer is of conventional form consisting of a pair ofsimilar mating castings lil secured together by screws 11. Thesecastings are formed on their confronting sides with mating concavitiesto form a compartment for the magazine and at their upwardly extendingfront portions 12, they fare formed to provide a recess in `which aplunger 13 is mounted for sliding movement. The plunger is hollow andmoves in telescoping relation over a stem 14 on which is positioned ahelical compression spring 15 to yieldingly urge the plunger upwardly.The plunger is formed with a lengthwise extending slot 16 to receive theinner end of a pin 17 mounted in the body castings and serving to limitthe upward movement of the plunger. A nail driving blade 13 -is aiiixedto and depends from the plunger. The upper end of the plunger isprovided with a knob 19 to receive a blow from a hammer, or mallet, tomove the plunger 13 and blade 1S downwardly to drive a nail in a workpiece.

A nose piece 20 is fixed to the forward end of the body and may be oione-piece construction or, as in the yarrangement shown, it carries aplate structure L11 which may be of laminated arrangement, as shown inFIG- URE 5, or of one-piece construction as shown in FIG- URE 9. Theplate 21 is formed on its inner side with a passage 23 confronting theforward end of the body and arranged in registration with the nailmagazine guideway. This guideway may be in the form of a pair of bars 56having their confronting edges rounded, see FIGURE 8, for engagingnotches formed in opposite sides of the nails 24 in proximity to thehead portion 25 thereof. With this arrangement, the nails 2f!- aresupported in a row by the bars 56 and are advanced along the bars by apusher d'7 moved forwardiy by a compression spring Si), more or less inthe conventional manner, and as shown more particularly in the de Manapplication referred to.

The nose piece or plate assembly Z1 thereof is formed with a naildelivery slot 3i) in which the driver blade 18 is movable. his slot andthe driver blade 1S are dimensioned to permit free downward movement ofa nail being driven into the workpiece 33 which is shown in the form ofa piece of wood flooring. These machines are used extensively for layingsuch ooring. In like manner, the passage 23 is dimensioned to permit thefree movement of the nails being used from the guideway into the slotSii.

When the driver blade 18 isin the full up position, as shown in FIGURES1, 2 and 3, the lower end portion of the blade is positioned below theplane of the guideway bars 56, that is, below the upper ends of thenails in the guideway whereby, as shown in FIGURE 1, the foremost nailin the row is prevented from moving out of the passage 23 into thedelivery slot 36.

There is aiixed to the rear or inner side of the driver blade 18, a nailengaging projection 41. This projection 41 is spaced upwardly from thelower end of the blade a distance such that when the blade has beenmoved to full down position to set the nail, as shown in FIG- URE 4, theprojection 41 has engaged the head of the nail in the passage 23 and hasmoved it downwardly below the plane of the nail guideway a sufficientdistance so when the blade is returned to full up position by the spring15, the lower end of the blade is positioned above the downwardlydisplaced nail, permitting it to move into the delivery slot 30, asshown in FIGURE 2.

The nails 24 are adhered together by an adhesive, and the foremost nailin the row, positioned in the passage 23, is sheared, or separated, fromthe next adjacent nail by the projection 41 upon full downward movementof the driver blade. The pusher 67, by the action of spring 8i),maintains a pressure against the downwardly displaced nail suilicient tonormally restrain descent of the nail further than is necessary to clearthe lower end of the driving blade 18 when the same is in full-upposition. Also, by this pressure and the adhesively coated abuttingsurfaces of the nails, normally upward movement1 of the displaced nailupon upward return movement of the driving blade is prevented.

Downward movement of the displaced nail may be readily avoided by simplyproviding a positioning shoulder in the passage 23 as, for example,ledges 43, or a bottom wall 44. In the case of the ledges 43, theshoulder is provided by forming the upper portion 45 of the passage 23wider than the lower portion of the passage so as to accommodate theheads of the nails when headed nails are used, as nails 24 shown. Ifstraight or headless nails are used, such as sash pins, the point end ofthe nail may rest on the bottom wall 44. f

Any upward movement of the displaced nail upon return upward movement ofthe driving blade may be prevented by the retaining spring arrangementdisclosed in FIGURES 10, ll and 12. In this arrangement, the legportions 47 of a U-shaped spring are positioned in the upper widerportion 45 of the passage 23. The upper ends of the leg portions 47 ofthe spring are'connected by a cross portion 48 which is displacedinwardly and is positioned in a slot formed in the body castings 10, seeFIGURE 10. The lower ends 49 of the spring legs 47 converge inwardly,see FIGURE 11.

The leg portions 47 of the spring are spaced apart a distance to permitmovement of a nail 24 into the passage 23. Due to the inwarddisplacement of the connecting portion 48 of the spring, the projection41 on the r driving blade can move downwardly between the spring legs 47to displace the nail from the plane of the magazine guideway forengagement with the ledges 43. During this downward displacement of thenails, the ends 49 of the spring spread outwardly and return to normalposition y shown in FIGURE l1, with the lower edges of the portions 49positioned above the head of the displaced nail 50. Accordingly, upwardmovement of the driving blade 13 cannot effect upward movement of thedisplaced nail 50.

The addition of the displacement projection 41 to the nail driver blade18 results only in a negligible increase in the cost of the manufactureof the nailer, but yet the arrangement described provides a positiveblockage of the movement of the nail into the delivery slot until theprevious nail has been completely driven in the workpiece, regardless ofthe number of blows on the plunger in thei driving of a nail. Thisarrangement thus prevents any possibility of the machine jamming becauseof improper feeding of the nails from the magazine to the delivery slot.

What I claim is:

1. A nail driver comprising `a body formed with a nail magazine havingan elongated guideway for supporting a row of nails, a nail pusher formoving said row of nails toward the forward end of said magazine, a nosepiece axed to the forward end of said magazine and being formed with anail delivery slot extending normal to the plane of said guideway, saidnose piece being also formed with a passage arranged in registrationwith said guideway intermediate said guideway and sm'd slot, and servingfor the passage of nails from said guideway to said slot by said pusher,a nail driver blade slidably mounted in said slot and being movabledownwardly through the slot to full down position to drive a nail homein a work piece, means limiting the upward movement of said blade in upposition with the lower end of said blade positioned below the plane ofsaid guideway to restrain movement of the forwardmost nail in said rowfrom said passage into the said slot, said blade having a nail headengaging portion spaced upwardly from the lower end of said blade adistance for engaging a nail in said passage in the plane of saidguideway and, upon movement of said blade to full down position, todisplace such engaged nail downwardly from the plane of said guideway toposition the head of said nail below the lower end of said blade whenthe same is in up position, whereby the next succeeding nail in said rowof nails in the guideway will move said displaced nail through saidpassage into said slot, by action of said pusher against the row ofnails.

2. A nail driver comprising a body formed with a nail magazine having anelongated guideway for supporting a row of nails, a nail pusher formoving said row of nails toward the forward end of said magazine, a nosepiece aiiixed to the forward end of said magazine and being formed witha nail delivery slot extending normal to the plane of said guideway,said nose piece being also formed with a passage intermediate saidguideway and said slot, said passage being arranged in registration withsaid guideway and serving for the passage of nails from said guideway tosaid slot by said pusher, a nail driver blade slidably mounted in saidslot and being movable downwardly through the slot to full down positionto drive a nail home in a work piece, means limiting the upward movementof said blade in up position with the lower end of said blade positionedbelow the plane of said guideway to restrain movement of the forwardmostnail in said row from said passage into the said slot, said blade havinga nail head engaging portion spaced upwardly from the lower end of saidblade a distance for engaging a nail in said passage in the plane ofsaid guideway and, upon movement of said blade to full down position, todisplace such engaged nail downwardly from the plane of said guideway toposition the head of said nail below the lower end of said blade whenthe same is in up position, and means in said passage for restrainingvertical movement of said displaced nail, whereby the next succeedingnail in said row of nails in the guideway will move said displaced nailthrough said passage into said slot, by action of said pusher againstthe row of nails.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 353,818Richards Dec. 7, 1886 2,829,369 Browning Apr. 18, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS1,236,495 France June 7, 1960

1. A NAIL DRIVER COMPRISING A BODY FORMED WITH A NAIL MAGAZINE HAVING ANELONGATED GUIDEWAY FOR SUPPORTING A ROW OF NAILS, A NAIL PUSHER FORMOVING SAID ROW OF NAILS TOWARD THE FORWARD END OF SAID MAGAZINE, A NOSEPIECE AFFIXED TO THE FORWARD END OF SAID MAGAZINE AND BEING FORMED WITHA NAIL DELIVERY SLOT EXTENDING NORMAL TO THE PLANE OF SAID GUIDEWAY,SAID NOSE PIECE BEING ALSO FORMED WITH A PASSAGE ARRANGED INREGISTRATION WITH SAID GUIDEWAY INTERMEDIATE SAID GUIDEWAY AND SAIDSLOT, AND SERVING FOR THE PASSAGE OF NAILS FROM SAID GUIDEWAY TO SAIDSLOT BY SAID PUSHER, A NAIL DRIVER BLADE SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SLOTAND BEING MOVABLE DOWNWARDLY THROUGH THE SLOT TO FULL DOWN POSITION TODRIVE A NAIL HOME IN A WORK PIECE, MEANS LIMITING THE UPWARD MOVEMENT OFSAID BLADE IN UP POSITION WITH THE LOWER END OF SAID BLADE POSITIONEDBELOW THE PLANE OF SAID GUIDEWAY TO RESTRAIN MOVEMENT OF THE FORWARDMOSTNAIL IN SAID ROW FROM SAID PASSAGE INTO THE SAID SLOT, SAID BLADE HAVINGA NAIL HEAD ENGAGING PORTION SPACED UPWARDLY FROM THE LOWER END OF SAIDBLADE A DISTANCE FOR ENGAGING A NAIL IN SAID PASSAGE IN THE PLANE OFSAID GUIDEWAY AND, UPON MOVEMENT OF SAID BLADE TO FULL DOWN POSITION, TODISPLACE SUCH ENGAGED NAIL DOWNWARDLY FROM THE PLANE OF SAID GUIDEWAY TOPOSITION THE HEAD OF SAID NAIL BELOW THE LOWER END OF SAID BLADE WHENTHE SAME IS IN UP POSITION, WHEREBY THE NEXT SUCCEEDING NAIL IN SAID ROWOF NAILS IN THE GUIDEWAY WILL MOVE SAID DISPLACED NAIL THROUGH SAIDPASSAGE INTO SAID SLOT, BY ACTION OF SAID PUSHER AGAINST THE ROW OFNAILS.